Mad Hatter's Tea Party

Like I said in an earlier post I have decided to write more about work since that's where I spend most of my life. Luckily I have a job that is pretty entertaining and has events that I can actually blog about and hopefully not put everyone to sleep. Last Friday we had a new event called the Mad Hatter's Tea Party. I was so excited for this event and I had reason to be. It was a great event and one that I hope we continue for a long time. Our office was basically in charge of the whole event so pretty much everything that you see was created by us! I am in no way creative and the only thing I can really take credit for is the painting! A lot of the characters were drawn by my good friend Kelli. Her artwork was recently published in a journal and I couldn't be happier for her. She is an amazing artist, but don't take my word for it, look at her blog and you will see for yourself!
Ok back to Mad Hatter, I will just get on with the pictures I guess.
The schedule of events for the evening. And yes it really was only an hour and a half! All of that planning and the event was so short!

The check-in table where I spent most of the night!







The amazing cake! I actually had an opportunity to take a cake decorating class from Aileen, the one who made the cake. She is incredible!

The roses after everyone painted them red

Me, Kelli and Jenn at the end of the event

Overall, great event and great people. I really am one lucky gal to get to work with people that I consider friends. Yep, life is good!

Special Olympics

Since March I have been working with the Special Olympics Swim Team here in Elk Grove. I have been wanting to volunteer ever since I can remember but for some reason I just never have. I saw a shout out on a local website that said they were needing swim coaches and so I decided that this was the time! I worked in Adapted PE and Aquatics before I got my full-time gig with the Parks and Rec Department. I LOVED it and have missed the people that I was able to work with. It has been an amazing experience. This weekend the athletes had their State Qualifier Meet up in Roseville. It was so fun to see all of the different areas in Nor Cal represented. In June we have the State Games which are being held in Davis. So needless to say now the training really kicks in. I am so fortunate to spend time with such an amazing group of people and the other coaches and parents are awesome! Here are some pictures from this weekend. I didn't take any of them so all of the credit has to go to my friend and fellow coach Gigi. I am hoping to get a new camera this week so hopefully you will see a lot more pictures up here...and maybe a lot more posts!

Our athletes warming up

The volunteers that were timing the events

Our RELAY team

Me and Gigi and Zach over to the far right
Just as a side note: The kid behind us in the plaid shorts was so funny. He was so friendly and outgoing. Throughout the day I think I learned more about him then I have most of my athletes. He thinks Gigi is beautiful and told her that about 20 times throughout the day. He would smile the whole time he was swimming. He kept asking us if he was doing a good job and at the end of his swims he would say "A+ right"? And we would always say of course! He wants a girlfriend, he wants to go to college full-time and he wants to travel, a lot! To places like Utah.
It was a great day!